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When thinking of exactly what image I wanted to use for the cover of this novel, as a professional Graphic Designer, I immediately wanted to go into photoshop and do something really technical and create a lot of effect using images. Then I stopped and really thought about the novel and what it represents. Simplicity. So then I went back to the drawing board and chose this picture of this old man photographed by Alec Guinness. With a distinct look on his face, I pictured Ethan immeditely after I really looked at it. I thought that this man's warn, displeased expression, weathered face and age revealing winkles epitomized Ethan, for I picture him to always wear a look of unhappiness in it's purest form on his face. Ethan is essentially overwhelmed with the feeling that he is yearning to have someone he cannot "...Ethan had imagined that his allusion might open the way to the accepted pleasantries, and these perhaps in turn to a harmless caress, if only a mere touch of her hand.."(page 50), he in turn is seemingly unhappy in his marriage, otherwise there would be no need for the touch of another. Content now turns to discontent. Ethan seems to always have the disposition that his life is less than stellar as it unravels before us through this novel, and this photograph illustrates that beautifully.
Several of the topics we discussed in class lead me to choosing this “cover” as my design choice for Ethan Frome. To begin, the novel is set in Winter in New England, a time in which all things are gray and dismal. With the exception of the blue door, everything else on the cover is the same, dull, variation of gray, brown, and white. The door standing out with it's color, however, is not an accident; while the text takes place in a number of locations, the real story happens inside the home. Regardless of the events that occur out in the snow after the dance, or on the sled, or with Zeena and Ethan's communication with outsiders, the real setting of this novel is inside the house, particularly the kitchen. Ethan's inability to act leads to non-events outside of the home (and even, on his part, inside the home as well) It is there that Ethan and Mattie eat pickles and doughnuts, and there that the cat makes its presence continuously known, as if being the watchful eye of Zeena. It is under the very same roof that the triangle between Zeena and Mattie and Ethan takes place with Zeena needing constant care as when Ethan and Mattie need Zeena's care. Nothing changes in this home but the characters playing the roles.
In addition, the presence of dead vines here corresponds with the repetitive mention of dead cucumber vines in the text. Here, however, the vines are more than just one single vine set to make a statement, but an overwhelming amount covering the entire front of the house. These are able to show that there is no escaping the effects of the dead vines, and at this point it would take a lot of work to reverse the effects of them (and, symbolically, Ethan's impotence). There is no easy way to clear all that death and debris off the front of the house, and no way for Ethan to clear all the problems away from his life, either. There is only one window on the front of the house out of which to see the outside, but it looks like even this window is covered, even if only partially, by the dead vines, altering and obstructing a potentially clear view.
Finally, I chose to include the insane amount of ellipses on the cover to emphasize the alarming amount of ellipses used withing the text. Just as the narrator within the story uses them to separate her own story from the one she makes up for the characters, this cover demonstrates the way that Edith is using them to separate her own story from that of the characters. In both instances, however, it is really the outsider's OWN story that is being projected on the characters, not their actual stories. And, of course, Edith's name appears first, and more predominately, on the cover because it is really her story that is being told, not Ethan's.
Though there are definitely numerous references to pickles and cucumbers in Ethan Frome, I also noticed many references to candles. Ethan’s candle is also referred to as “flickering” at one point, implying that it does not quite do its job. So the candle is the center of the cover, and its flickering flame does not illuminate its surroundings, as Ethan’s “candle” doesn’t do its job either.
In addition, the profile of Ethan is up in the corner, looking down longingly (creepily?) on Mattie. One of my favorite aspects of this cover is the expression on Mattie’s face. She seems to be looking off in the distance, pointedly not at Ethan. She appears to be longing for something, trying to imagine a life other than the one she has. And of course, Zeena is always lurking nearby, slightly in the background, but present just the same.
This cover seems to represent mostly the narrator’s take on Ethan’s story. Ethan and Mattie are in the foreground, facing each other as star-crossed “soul mate” lovers. Zeena is portrayed as the root of all evil, there only to sabotage the others’ relationship. However, it does deviate from the narrator’s view in the expression on Mattie’s face. It seems to capture a sense of uneasiness and the desire for escape, which is not painted by the author.
This cover is made of two images that I found on Google, and then I cropped and superimposed them. The images are part of a woman’s face with her head covered in a red scarf (like Mattie wears in the novel) and a black and white house/barn winter landscape. I was really going for an image that will haunt you when you look at it, because not only is this novel a love story, but also it’s a horrific tragedy. The black, gray, and red tones give a haunting effect. Also, the color red plays a significant role throughout the novel. Mattie wears a red scarf and red ribbon; the shattered pickle dish is red; and in literature red usually symbolizes love, lust, adulterous behavior, and sin in general. And finally in the end when they hit the tree I can only imagine that there is a mess of blood, although this isn’t specified. Perhaps the color red in the earlier scenes help foreshadow this final event at the tree. -Melissa Cheatham
I chose the obvious New England winter landscape that gave a barren or abandoned feeling and the story is also on the dark side so I wanted to make my cover as dark and ominous as possible. I used the tree lined road to emphasize that Ethan and Mattie can't turn back on the road they're on and they have to see it to the end which ultimately leads them to their crash. I incorporated a red scarf to signify Mattie's existence or presence (as she wears the red scarf, ribbon, even the pickle dish is red) in the novel and wanted it to pop out of the cover and be something that would peak interest if someone hadn't read the book. Images were found on Google then layered together in Photoshop. - Kristin Jensen
I chose this image because it accurately represents Ethan's relationship to the world while simultaneously depicted a memorable scene in the novella.
While waiting for Mattie after the dance, Ethan peeps in the window to watch the goings-on, allowing him to feel like he's a part of the action without actually having to interact with anyone. The sense of outside-looking-in is echoed (quite literally) in this photograph. The stone wall of the building and the black-and-whiteness of the image give it a cold feeling, which reminds us of the text's New England-in-winter setting. The man's appearance is similar to how I imagined Ethan as well, showing signs of both age and youth; this man is balding (a sign of age) but still has a relatively wrinkle-free looking face (a sign of youth). His position – not at eye level with the window, but having to reach up, perhaps standing on tip-toe—reflects the elevated social status of those within, and Ethan's struggle to be able to have even this tiny part in it.
Although this image does depict these things in a literal sense, it also reflects Ethan's outside-ness in relation to the rest of society. His life (as we are shown it by the narrator, another outsider) is one characterized not by the things he does have, but by the things he longs for and wishes he could have.
For the cover, I chose "Winter Tree" by Sarah Rachel Evans. This leafless tree is symbolic in its barrenness, and the asymmetric form could also represent Ethan Frome's physical deformities. Although there is light snow in this painting, the darkness of the tree over-powers the scene, and the tree remains a lonely dark figure in a lifeless landscape, much like Ethan Frome.
I generated this cover for Ethan Frome to evoke the sense of despair and alienation present throughout the novel. The title itself blends into the background as Ethan blended into the landscape. In the picture there is a lone man with his horse surrounded by a bleak winter landscape with snow-covered grounds, barren trees, and dark, ominous skies. This man and his surroundings are a reflection of Ethan Frome and his life in Starkfield. The size of the man in juxtaposition to his surroundings emphasizes his isolation and insignificance. Ethan feels alienated and hopeless by his situation, and his insignificance is proven by the way others perceive him, as well as his inability to take action to improve his situation.
For my book cover I chose a winter landscape painting. I chose the frozen landscape for obvious reasons: the color palette reminded me of the description of Starkfield and the harshness of rural New England winters. There were other aspects of this painting that I thought made it particularly fitting as cover art for the novel. The cabin/home in the painting looks just as bleak and cold as the surroundings, it blends into the background and emits neither warmth nor light, reminiscent of the Frome household. I also chose this particular painting because in the foreground there is a frozen lake. The lake is often used as a symbol of stagnation, so I thought this was fitting because this seems to be what plagues the characters, especially Ethan and Zeena. I chose red for the text on the cover both because of red's symbolic prevalence in the novel and also as a presage to the sort of bloody tragedy that ends the novel.
I chose this picture of a snowy path because of the coloring. The picture is very bright, yet the colors are very mute. Ethan Frome is a book that paints its protagonist as something of a heroic figure, but the interest of the narrator don't seem to coincide with the interests of accurate storytelling. There is something not quite right about the way Ethan's story is told, and this image communicated a similar feeling to me, like there might be something not quite right at the end of the snowy path depicted here. Ethan himself could very well be lurking in any part of the image. I'm particularly fond of the way the sun spots obscure the image, as if the picture-taker had as much difficulty seeing what was at the end of the path as the viewer of the image does. Ethan is a character who is unable to see the tree until its two feet in front of him, so to speak, and I think this image does a fantastic job of capturing the readers' sense of mistrust of Ethan and the narrator of Ethan's story.
I chose the following cover since sleighs seem to be a recurring theme throughout the novel. Obviously, Ethan and Mattie try to escape their apparently doomed future by trying to kill themselves while they go sledding downhill. Additionally, Denis Eady is also trying to persuade Mattie to let him drive her home with his horse-drawn sleigh, which she – to Ethan’s relief – declines.
As discussed in class, the relationship of the protagonist and narrator is very interesting, it almost seems weird that the narrator is so interested and almost obsessed with Ethan. Furthermore, it is unclear to the reader whether he can trust the narrator, as it seems as if he is not necessarily telling the (whole) true story, which is indicated in sentences such as: “I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story” (p.1)
„It was that night I found the clue to Ethan Frome and began putting together this vision of the story…“ (p. 12)
It seems as if the narrator doesn’t necessarily know the whole story: is he really telling the truth, respectively the story he sees, or does he just tell the story he wants to see? This interesting sort of narrative, as well as the relationship and actual dialogue between the narrator and Ethan was very striking to me.
Hence, it appeared to me that the sleigh serves as a sort of connection between the narrator and Ethan: during sleigh ride to the Flats, Ethan warms up a bit, or at least talks to the narrator a bit more, who eventually learns more and more about the tragic story of Ethan.
My “Ethan Frome” cover depicts a twisted, dark apple tree in front of a red sunset.
The apple tree is representative of Ethan From himself. The book states that Ethan’s property has “an orchard of starved apple trees, writhing over a hillside…” (9) This description in the book immediately made me think of Ethan. The deformed and twisted trees are representative of his character. He is strong and sturdy, as a tree is, but he also has that twisted and secretive. The verb starved is interesting, because Ethan is essentially starved of love and personal contact with his wife, Zeena.
Tree branches are also used by Ethan to describe Mattie. “Every yard of the road was alive with Mattie’s presence, and there was hardly a branch against the sky or a tangle of brambles on the bank in which some bright shred of memory was not caught.” (77) The tree branches represent Ethan’s mind, in which the memories of Mattie and their experiences together are held.
Apples are also an interesting symbol in literature, because they often represent the forbidden fruit, a temptation that Adam and Eve face in the Garden of Eden. The apple in this novel is Mattie. Ethan has a desire to be with her, even though he has a wife and she is forbidden.
The color red is prominent throughout the novel – from Mattie’s red scarf, to the red sunset that is mentioned several times. Red can represent lust, romanticism, and in this case it also represents blood and perhaps even sin.
Sunsets oftentimes represent the end of something. And the red sunset I chose to use on my cover represents the end of life.
I drew Ethan’s bay horse with ribs poking out and a sunken back because I doubt the horse was healthy. In my picture, Ethan is sucking the life out of his bay horse just like he is sucking the life and light out of the women, trees, and the rest of the atmosphere in the novel. I also included trees and stumps. The stumps resemble lost causes. They were once large, beautiful oxygen producers but Ethan cut them down to nothing. The horse is barely able to move; and because of the fact that Ethan is holding it back, the only thing that keeps it going is a carrot. The only thing that keeps Ethan going is his selfish desires for dreams that he either throws away or ruins. I’m still not exactly sure what pickles and donuts are supposed to mean, but I know that they must symbolize some kind of strange ideas that are not supposed to go together. They are two things that could not complement each other’s tastes. I can’t see donuts and pickles providing many nutrients either. Mattie is not meant to be with Ethan. He cannot nourish her but does the opposite. Yet this is the idea that is in Ethan’s head. He’s chasing something that will not work.
Jasmine Cruthird
I chose this cover because I imagine the two that are kissing as Ethan and Mattie. They are in the middle of a storm, yet they are ignoring it because they are content on one another. Throughout the novel, Ethan’s life is a kind of storm; it’s gloomy, burdensome, unfruitful, monotonous, and crippling, yet Mattie breathes life into him. She is the calm in the midst of his storm. The two in the photo are having a peaceful, romantic moment even though they are in the middle of the storm and are probably freezing. Mattie and Ethan are both disappointed by the way their lives are turning out to be so that combined with the fact that they both seem to think of Zeena as a pain draws them together. The fact that these two are kissing in the middle of the storm my mean that their love is forbidden, so they have to brave a horrible storm that not very many people will brave so that they can have an intimate moment and not be detected. This also reminds me of when Mattie uses Zeena’s pickle dish and it breaks. She knew not to use it, but she decided to take the risk when Zeena left so she could dress up the table for her one on one dinner with Ethan. She wanted to make the most of their moment because it wasn’t often that they had this opportunity.
I chose to portray Ethan and Mattie in the sled, because the accident is a turning point in Ethan’s life, and what ultimately turns him into the “ruin of a man” that he is described as. It is the point where he gets his gruff manner and his physical ailment. I included the farm in the background as a very plain building. Everything is very snowy. I also included a graveyard both because they discuss the graveyard in passing and as an allusion to what is to come in the progression of the story as well as the harsh conditions of the environment. I would use the cover as a way of foreshadowing what is going to happen in the book, as Wharton also uses foreshadowing in her book, in the conversation between Ethan and Mattie when they pass the graveyard and talk about the crash that occurred earlier.
Chris Miranda
In my version of the Ethan Frome novel cover I went with a more modern/contemporary approach in my composition. The dark background is representative of Ethan's tendency to always lurk in the shadows, watching others around him. The cat's eyes represent Zeena's cat Puss, and the broken pink dish, Zeena's pickle dish. During the scene in the story when Mattie and Ethan are having dinner together while Zeena is away, the cat appears several times, causing interruptions throughout the course of the night. The cat has a tendency to intervene whenever Ethan seems to be pursuing time alone with Mattie, almost as if it is Zeena's shadow or phantom. The cat stares at them menacingly, as if keeping an eye on their every move, logging everything it sees into memory. The cat is the witness to Ethan's emotional disloyalty to Zeena, and his lust and desire for Mattie.
The wilted, dying flower represents Zeena at the beginning of the story, and Mattie at the end of the story. While there isn't floral imagery used in the novel, both Zeena and Mattie are both vibrant, happy young women when they first encounter Ethan. When Zeena came to take care of Ethan's mother, she was a caring, nuturing woman, but after time wears on, and Ethan's need for her wanes, the life is drained out of her, and she left a shadow of her former self. She becomes the bitter, lonely, depressed shell of a woman we see at the beginning of the novel. After Ethan takes an interest in Mattie, he slowly puts her into the same position that he drew Zeena into. Not that he intended for Mattie to become injured when the crashed the sleigh, but his selfish need to fulfill his desires led him to put Mattie that situation in the first place. He had to have that 'special' moment with her, and his need for that overrode anything or anyone else. As a result of his actions, Mattie ends up in the position Zeena eventually found herself in... a withered, wilting flower, once so full of beauty and life, but now just a dying remnant of what they once were.
Ethan Frome
What I noticed about the expression on this man's face was the bitterness in it. This man, to me, doesn't just look pissed; he looks like his face has been in this way for so long that it is going to stay that way permanently. This is why it reminded me of Ethan. His character in the novel was defeated. Life had beat him up and he was too weak of a person to fight back. Even if Ethan wasn't as old as the man above appears, under his situation it would only take a few more years to look as old. In this picture, the man is looking outward. It reminded me Ethan in that he was always looking to other places and sources for explainations. His father was sick, so he had to quit school. He was lonely and it was winter, so he felt obligated to marry. Zeena was sickly, so his marriage suffered. The list goes on. Ethan never really followed through on any of his grand plans and never did anything to remedy the situation with Zeena. Part of this is because he failed to recognize his own fault in anything. What this basically amounts to is putting your chin in your hand like this man, scowling at the world, and just merely existing in your own bitter thoughts.
(For some reason I couldn't make the text transfer with my picture...it's supposed to have "ethan frome:" next to the twig to accentuate the relationship between him an his impotence)
For my cover, I chose a scene that would depict a central theme of Ethan Frome; namely, his impotence. While the picture at first appears to represent the wintry, cold landscape found in the novel, that merely serves to further highlight the frigid relationship between Zeena and Ethan centering on his impotence. His impotence is depicted in the above picture by the obvious phallic imagery in the frosted twig. In addition, I used lower case spelling for the title of the book to underscore his impotence, and even added a colon after the title – not to refer the reader to the bottom of the cover to “By Edith Wharton,” but to tie him fully to the twig: “ethan frome: cold, dead twig.”
I chose my cover based on what I felt was iconic imagery described in the text. The background I felt evoked the life-smothering winter imagery of Starkfield, which parallels Ethan's own withered state. The tombstone I included because I felt it emphasizes the sense of inevitability you feel reading the text, knowing the end result from the beginning of the book, as well as the inevitability of death Ethan must have felt each day looking at the headstone. The sled at the bottom represents both the newfound joy Ethan found in his meetings with Mattie and its role in Ethan's forthcoming downfall. The sepia-toning was added because I felt it emphasized the disconnection Ethan felt from Zeena, his once-promising past, and life in general.
Ethan Frome is a story set in a cold and barren landscape. The characters and their lives mach the landscape they live in. Their lives are barren and scarred with the memories of unfulfilled love and desires. I chose this picture because, like the book of Ethan Frome, it portrays a cold, snow covered barren landscape. The picture is dark, and has a feeling of loneliness. If one has read the book, you could almost picture Ethan’s’ sleigh coming through the mist with his disfigured body and lonely, cold, and life draining heart.
Draining Life by: Chris Trudell
"Draining Life" by: Chris Trudell
I created this drawing in mind of the idea that Ethan has the persona to over take and "drain" the life out of the woman / life around him. Of course we can consider the dry, ominous erect tree, baring no life or fertility can be a metaphor of Ethan's weakened manhood. However, I drew this tree near center of the page in mind that Ethan sees himself as the center of life around him. The living life is far away, no connections or shadowing, cast away in the distance, with the ground torn away-with a deep wound separating the two worlds of living and the dark living... the land, possibly from deforestation. This tree is left alone, to guard land that it was rooted in, reaching out to the distance for anything that might come its way. However, this drawing does not show the winter scene, I wanted to show the scars between things, that are usually hidden, once the snow melts away.
I chose to create a cover page for the novel Ethan Frome. The image I have created might be difficult to recognize but the image is of a shriveled cucumber. In class discussions this shriveled cucumber might symbolize Ethan’s impotence. I would agree with that, but the cucumber has more behind it than just Ethan’s impotence. The desiccated cucumber represents the withering of life. In the story, Ethan definitely has a certain control of sucking the life out of his wife, and then Mattie Silver. Ethan seems to be depicted as a man who is the victim. In looking closer, it is the women that are victimized. I derived this image directly from the text; it represents the manipulative and controlling portrayal of Ethan Frome’s character.
I chose this as the cover becuase of its seemingly desolate, open space, and somber appearance. I think it fits in with Edith Wharton's 'Ethan Frome' not only becuase of its New England-esh atmosphere but also because of the eerie and alone nature it can have in relation to Ethan. I think that instead of appreciating this kind of a view and enjoying the peace of the watching deer there would be some way Ethan would just drain all of that emotion from the picture into some sordid way that made him the focus of the picture rather than the picture itself.
I'm not great at Photoshop so pardon the plain text, I did want to make Edith Wharton's name bigger, because I think she played a larger role in this text than author. I think she took great care in manipulating assumptions she assumed the reader would be making, to create a more complex dynamic. It took me awhile to find the image I was looking for, and this was as close to the vision I had. I like the image of the larger elm tree, set apart from the smaller elm trees. This particular elm tree was brought up at different instances in the novel. This elm tree was the unfinished business Ethan couldn't part from, this was one of the only things they ever planned to do and eventually this was the fate Ethan chose for Mattie and himself. The end of the novel describes Mattie choosing it for them, but as we've said in class, I don't think we ever really hear from Mattie. The book starts and ends with Ethan's injuries that come from this tree, and I think it's significant enough to be on the cover.
When reading the scene with them crashing into the elm tree I could not help but to think of Calvin and Hobbes when they would ride their sled and would always crash. I decided to disguise them as Ethan and Mattie just for fun. As for the cover I thought that a cover showing the bleak landscape of a New England winter would be the best for the cover because it captures the whole essence of the novel.
In addition, the presence of dead vines here corresponds with the repetitive mention of dead cucumber vines in the text. Here, however, the vines are more than just one single vine set to make a statement, but an overwhelming amount covering the entire front of the house. These are able to show that there is no escaping the effects of the dead vines, and at this point it would take a lot of work to reverse the effects of them (and, symbolically, Ethan's impotence). There is no easy way to clear all that death and debris off the front of the house, and no way for Ethan to clear all the problems away from his life, either. There is only one window on the front of the house out of which to see the outside, but it looks like even this window is covered, even if only partially, by the dead vines, altering and obstructing a potentially clear view.
Finally, I chose to include the insane amount of ellipses on the cover to emphasize the alarming amount of ellipses used withing the text. Just as the narrator within the story uses them to separate her own story from the one she makes up for the characters, this cover demonstrates the way that Edith is using them to separate her own story from that of the characters. In both instances, however, it is really the outsider's OWN story that is being projected on the characters, not their actual stories. And, of course, Edith's name appears first, and more predominately, on the cover because it is really her story that is being told, not Ethan's.
In addition, the profile of Ethan is up in the corner, looking down longingly (creepily?) on Mattie. One of my favorite aspects of this cover is the expression on Mattie’s face. She seems to be looking off in the distance, pointedly not at Ethan. She appears to be longing for something, trying to imagine a life other than the one she has. And of course, Zeena is always lurking nearby, slightly in the background, but present just the same.
This cover seems to represent mostly the narrator’s take on Ethan’s story. Ethan and Mattie are in the foreground, facing each other as star-crossed “soul mate” lovers. Zeena is portrayed as the root of all evil, there only to sabotage the others’ relationship. However, it does deviate from the narrator’s view in the expression on Mattie’s face. It seems to capture a sense of uneasiness and the desire for escape, which is not painted by the author.
While waiting for Mattie after the dance, Ethan peeps in the window to watch the goings-on, allowing him to feel like he's a part of the action without actually having to interact with anyone. The sense of outside-looking-in is echoed (quite literally) in this photograph. The stone wall of the building and the black-and-whiteness of the image give it a cold feeling, which reminds us of the text's New England-in-winter setting. The man's appearance is similar to how I imagined Ethan as well, showing signs of both age and youth; this man is balding (a sign of age) but still has a relatively wrinkle-free looking face (a sign of youth). His position – not at eye level with the window, but having to reach up, perhaps standing on tip-toe—reflects the elevated social status of those within, and Ethan's struggle to be able to have even this tiny part in it.
Although this image does depict these things in a literal sense, it also reflects Ethan's outside-ness in relation to the rest of society. His life (as we are shown it by the narrator, another outsider) is one characterized not by the things he does have, but by the things he longs for and wishes he could have.
Source for photo here.
As discussed in class, the relationship of the protagonist and narrator is very interesting, it almost seems weird that the narrator is so interested and almost obsessed with Ethan. Furthermore, it is unclear to the reader whether he can trust the narrator, as it seems as if he is not necessarily telling the (whole) true story, which is indicated in sentences such as:
“I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story” (p.1)
„It was that night I found the clue to Ethan Frome and began putting together this vision of the story…“ (p. 12)
It seems as if the narrator doesn’t necessarily know the whole story: is he really telling the truth, respectively the story he sees, or does he just tell the story he wants to see? This interesting sort of narrative, as well as the relationship and actual dialogue between the narrator and Ethan was very striking to me.
Hence, it appeared to me that the sleigh serves as a sort of connection between the narrator and Ethan: during sleigh ride to the Flats, Ethan warms up a bit, or at least talks to the narrator a bit more, who eventually learns more and more about the tragic story of Ethan.
The apple tree is representative of Ethan From himself. The book states that Ethan’s property has “an orchard of starved apple trees, writhing over a hillside…” (9) This description in the book immediately made me think of Ethan. The deformed and twisted trees are representative of his character. He is strong and sturdy, as a tree is, but he also has that twisted and secretive. The verb starved is interesting, because Ethan is essentially starved of love and personal contact with his wife, Zeena.
Tree branches are also used by Ethan to describe Mattie. “Every yard of the road was alive with Mattie’s presence, and there was hardly a branch against the sky or a tangle of brambles on the bank in which some bright shred of memory was not caught.” (77) The tree branches represent Ethan’s mind, in which the memories of Mattie and their experiences together are held.
Apples are also an interesting symbol in literature, because they often represent the forbidden fruit, a temptation that Adam and Eve face in the Garden of Eden. The apple in this novel is Mattie. Ethan has a desire to be with her, even though he has a wife and she is forbidden.
The color red is prominent throughout the novel – from Mattie’s red scarf, to the red sunset that is mentioned several times. Red can represent lust, romanticism, and in this case it also represents blood and perhaps even sin.
Sunsets oftentimes represent the end of something. And the red sunset I chose to use on my cover represents the end of life.
I drew Ethan’s bay horse with ribs poking out and a sunken back because I doubt the horse was healthy. In my picture, Ethan is sucking the life out of his bay horse just like he is sucking the life and light out of the women, trees, and the rest of the atmosphere in the novel. I also included trees and stumps. The stumps resemble lost causes. They were once large, beautiful oxygen producers but Ethan cut them down to nothing. The horse is barely able to move; and because of the fact that Ethan is holding it back, the only thing that keeps it going is a carrot. The only thing that keeps Ethan going is his selfish desires for dreams that he either throws away or ruins. I’m still not exactly sure what pickles and donuts are supposed to mean, but I know that they must symbolize some kind of strange ideas that are not supposed to go together. They are two things that could not complement each other’s tastes. I can’t see donuts and pickles providing many nutrients either. Mattie is not meant to be with Ethan. He cannot nourish her but does the opposite. Yet this is the idea that is in Ethan’s head. He’s chasing something that will not work.
I chose this cover because I imagine the two that are kissing as Ethan and Mattie. They are in the middle of a storm, yet they are ignoring it because they are content on one another. Throughout the novel, Ethan’s life is a kind of storm; it’s gloomy, burdensome, unfruitful, monotonous, and crippling, yet Mattie breathes life into him. She is the calm in the midst of his storm. The two in the photo are having a peaceful, romantic moment even though they are in the middle of the storm and are probably freezing. Mattie and Ethan are both disappointed by the way their lives are turning out to be so that combined with the fact that they both seem to think of Zeena as a pain draws them together. The fact that these two are kissing in the middle of the storm my mean that their love is forbidden, so they have to brave a horrible storm that not very many people will brave so that they can have an intimate moment and not be detected. This also reminds me of when Mattie uses Zeena’s pickle dish and it breaks. She knew not to use it, but she decided to take the risk when Zeena left so she could dress up the table for her one on one dinner with Ethan. She wanted to make the most of their moment because it wasn’t often that they had this opportunity.
In my version of the Ethan Frome novel cover I went with a more modern/contemporary approach in my composition. The dark background is representative of Ethan's tendency to always lurk in the shadows, watching others around him. The cat's eyes represent Zeena's cat Puss, and the broken pink dish, Zeena's pickle dish. During the scene in the story when Mattie and Ethan are having dinner together while Zeena is away, the cat appears several times, causing interruptions throughout the course of the night. The cat has a tendency to intervene whenever Ethan seems to be pursuing time alone with Mattie, almost as if it is Zeena's shadow or phantom. The cat stares at them menacingly, as if keeping an eye on their every move, logging everything it sees into memory. The cat is the witness to Ethan's emotional disloyalty to Zeena, and his lust and desire for Mattie.
The wilted, dying flower represents Zeena at the beginning of the story, and Mattie at the end of the story. While there isn't floral imagery used in the novel, both Zeena and Mattie are both vibrant, happy young women when they first encounter Ethan. When Zeena came to take care of Ethan's mother, she was a caring, nuturing woman, but after time wears on, and Ethan's need for her wanes, the life is drained out of her, and she left a shadow of her former self. She becomes the bitter, lonely, depressed shell of a woman we see at the beginning of the novel. After Ethan takes an interest in Mattie, he slowly puts her into the same position that he drew Zeena into. Not that he intended for Mattie to become injured when the crashed the sleigh, but his selfish need to fulfill his desires led him to put Mattie that situation in the first place. He had to have that 'special' moment with her, and his need for that overrode anything or anyone else. As a result of his actions, Mattie ends up in the position Zeena eventually found herself in... a withered, wilting flower, once so full of beauty and life, but now just a dying remnant of what they once were.
(For some reason I couldn't make the text transfer with my picture...it's supposed to have "ethan frome:" next to the twig to accentuate the relationship between him an his impotence)
For my cover, I chose a scene that would depict a central theme of Ethan Frome; namely, his impotence. While the picture at first appears to represent the wintry, cold landscape found in the novel, that merely serves to further highlight the frigid relationship between Zeena and Ethan centering on his impotence. His impotence is depicted in the above picture by the obvious phallic imagery in the frosted twig. In addition, I used lower case spelling for the title of the book to underscore his impotence, and even added a colon after the title – not to refer the reader to the bottom of the cover to “By Edith Wharton,” but to tie him fully to the twig: “ethan frome: cold, dead twig.”
Ethan Frome is a story set in a cold and barren landscape. The characters and their lives mach the landscape they live in. Their lives are barren and scarred with the memories of unfulfilled love and desires. I chose this picture because, like the book of Ethan Frome, it portrays a cold, snow covered barren landscape. The picture is dark, and has a feeling of loneliness. If one has read the book, you could almost picture Ethan’s’ sleigh coming through the mist with his disfigured body and lonely, cold, and life draining heart.
"Draining Life" by: Chris Trudell
I created this drawing in mind of the idea that Ethan has the persona to over take and "drain" the life out of the woman / life around him. Of course we can consider the dry, ominous erect tree, baring no life or fertility can be a metaphor of Ethan's weakened manhood. However, I drew this tree near center of the page in mind that Ethan sees himself as the center of life around him. The living life is far away, no connections or shadowing, cast away in the distance, with the ground torn away-with a deep wound separating the two worlds of living and the dark living... the land, possibly from deforestation. This tree is left alone, to guard land that it was rooted in, reaching out to the distance for anything that might come its way. However, this drawing does not show the winter scene, I wanted to show the scars between things, that are usually hidden, once the snow melts away.
I chose to create a cover page for the novel Ethan Frome. The image I have created might be difficult to recognize but the image is of a shriveled cucumber. In class discussions this shriveled cucumber might symbolize Ethan’s impotence. I would agree with that, but the cucumber has more behind it than just Ethan’s impotence. The desiccated cucumber represents the withering of life. In the story, Ethan definitely has a certain control of sucking the life out of his wife, and then Mattie Silver. Ethan seems to be depicted as a man who is the victim. In looking closer, it is the women that are victimized. I derived this image directly from the text; it represents the manipulative and controlling portrayal of Ethan Frome’s character.
I chose this as the cover becuase of its seemingly desolate, open space, and somber appearance. I think it fits in with Edith Wharton's 'Ethan Frome' not only becuase of its New England-esh atmosphere but also because of the eerie and alone nature it can have in relation to Ethan. I think that instead of appreciating this kind of a view and enjoying the peace of the watching deer there would be some way Ethan would just drain all of that emotion from the picture into some sordid way that made him the focus of the picture rather than the picture itself.
I'm not great at Photoshop so pardon the plain text, I did want to make Edith Wharton's name bigger, because I think she played a larger role in this text than author. I think she took great care in manipulating assumptions she assumed the reader would be making, to create a more complex dynamic. It took me awhile to find the image I was looking for, and this was as close to the vision I had. I like the image of the larger elm tree, set apart from the smaller elm trees. This particular elm tree was brought up at different instances in the novel. This elm tree was the unfinished business Ethan couldn't part from, this was one of the only things they ever planned to do and eventually this was the fate Ethan chose for Mattie and himself. The end of the novel describes Mattie choosing it for them, but as we've said in class, I don't think we ever really hear from Mattie. The book starts and ends with Ethan's injuries that come from this tree, and I think it's significant enough to be on the cover.